So in addition to Pop's shelling out whatever our yearly fees are, I would have to donate to the ILA to ensure legal action?

Here is how it works:

NRA - they promote education regarding firearms, ranges and competition. They run the Eddie Eagle program, teach firearms safety to children and adults, provide advice and grants to range owners, organize and run various firearms competitions, and promote academic research etc.

NRA-ILA - Lobbies Congress in favor of specific legislation, works with state groups to pass legislation at the state level when that is more appropriate.

NRA-PVF - Works to get pro-NRA candidates re-elected and donates to their campaigns.

NRA Civil Defense Fund - Pursues Second Amendment litigation as well as helping ranges being threatened with civil suits and occasionally assisting in defense of gun owners who have used their firearms in justifiable self-defense but got caught in the legal system.

NRA Foundation - a 501(c)(3) non-profit that is basically the NRA's answer to the Joyce Foundation. Donations here are tax-deductible.

Your NRA member dues go towards the NRA only. The other organizations are supported by donations and other fundraising events.

And while the NRA Civil Defense Fund is a worthy cause that does a lot of good and is deserving of your money, if your thing is that you want to support top quality Second Amendment litigation, my personal opinion is that the Second Amendment Foundation has been more successful on that front.

^ It's harder for me to see exactly what my donations to the NRA do for me specifically in Illinois. It's easy for me to see exactly what my donations to the Illinois State Rifle Association do, their website is keeping tabs on all Illinois gun legislation pro & con, they flag every article in every newspaper, every poll that get published and they're on top of every Illinois political and legal development as it pertains to gun rights in Illinois.

And I know there is this idea that we all need to stand together to accomplish things, but Illinois is the last state to have a flat on ban on carrying. I know that in New Jersey and parts of California they have what amounts to a ban, but technically, Illinois is the last state.

The elections are coming up and I think that is where I am hoping the NRA will bring more resources to bear on Illinois. Campaign contibutions and media spots could make a huge difference in this election and we really only need to change out 3 or 4 anti-gun politicians.

But the way it looks, the NRA seems to be focusing more on the national level. I know the presidency is important - especially considering that the Supreme Court is THE court for the 2nd Amendment, it's the court of first resort and last resort - it's the only court.

Our NRA lobbyist is a great guy, and he does represent the NRA, but besides him, I'm not sure how much help he's getting from the national organization.

There are ties between the right and the NRA that are disturbing to me,...

I have to wonder about attitudes like this one. The NRA is not an organization who discriminates about its members. Anyone and everyone who pays the dues is a member. Right, Left, UP, Down, all shapes, sizes, and political flavors are welcome as members. Your politics, outside gun issues is of complete indifference.

CNN does good work. Just don't confuse their work with the truth, ever.
Their lies, half truths and innuendo accomplish exactly what they want them to do. Just look at all the posters who threatened to leave the NRA and take their money with them, simply because of an article by a known, tainted, source!

SO what if a large number of the "right" are NRA members? (and just who is the "right", and why are they a bad thing?...no, don't answer that here, that a retorical question)

To those who claim loudly that the NRA doesn't do enough, or is wrong, etc. and are leaving because of that, I ask, "What have you done?" Rather than take your toys and go home, why not work in the NRA to make it what you (obviously) feel it ought to be, and isn't?

They may not be doing all you think they should, or may be going in what you feel is the wrong direction, but bashing the NRA and going away does NOTHING positive, either way. You aren't getting the NRA to change, and you aren't getting what you say you want. Some might say that's a whining loser's actions.

While there are other pro gun organizations that work hard, and do good things, the NRA is the only one recognised by the anti's as dangerous to their agendas. Even though they deride the NRA as fringe nuts, they privately admit it is much more mainstream and powerful than all the other pro gun groups combined. And more to the point, its true.

__________________
All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.

__________________Violence is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and valorous feeling which believes that nothing is worth violence is much worse. Those who have nothing for which they are willing to fight; nothing they care about more than their own personal safety; are miserable creatures who have no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of those better than themselves. Gary L. Griffiths, Chief Instructor, Advanced Force Tactics, Inc. (Paraphrasing John Stuart Mill)

While I do understand some of the criticism of the NRA when you consider the amount of good they do some of the disapproval seems petty. While I know of no specific examples I have heard some people attack the NRA for sacrificing local issues for the bigger picture. While this may happen I think the best way to address this shortcoming is involvement in a local Second Amendment Rights group.

In Georgia we have a group called Georgia Carry.org that focuses exclusively on State issues. They have not only been influential in restoring freedoms at the State Legislature, but holding local municipalities accountable to follow the law. I feel like membership in this organization along with the NRA provides good balance between National and local issues.

For those who have disdain for the NRA remember the old proverb, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Our enemies here are not organizations that seek to restore and maintain our freedoms, but those that seek to take them away.

__________________
A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it ... gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.
- Milton Friedman

__________________
A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it ... gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.
- Milton Friedman

Then neither does conservative. I'm conservative; everyone else is a radical (card carrying or otherwise). But since you may have read some things I post, you may think otherwise and are free to do so.

"why not work in the NRA to make it what you (obviously) feel it ought to be, and isn't?"
Because there are competing organizations that IMP do a better job. If I buy a Taurus and it doesn't work i don't decide to buy another one and send them a bunch of suggestions when I have problems with it. I send my money to an organization I know will give me a quality product in return.

If there wasn't an organization out there that had a quality product I might go along with what you are saying.

The NRA members who did not want to change NRAs mission 30 years ago were correct.

The article was a bold-faced lie... If you can't wrap your head around the fact that CNN is widely known for "slanting" their "news" (a term used loosely to describe what they do) in a particular direction then you need to stay far away from me at the range, you're mentally incompetent...

Not everyone is going to agree with the NRA, not everyone is going to agree with SAF either... But they're the best we have... Put your money in the pocket of the one(s) you like best and move on... The NRA bashing and political bs around here is getting pretty firggin ridiculous....

__________________"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."-Richard Henry Lee, Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights.

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